I am very happy to report that I am back in Buenos Aires! It is a bright and sunny Saturday morning, and I am currently sitting in the WiFi cafe on my corner, sipping a cortado, and once again feeling very much at home in this city. And, despite the fact that I haven't exactly been easy on it this week, my knee is holding up quite well! I arrived back in BA early Sunday morning and although I have had to reacclimatize a bit and adjust to the start of classes, the transition back has been as smooth as I could have hoped for. It has been especially wonderful to reconnect with my friends and also comforting to discover that despite my 11 day "descansa," I feel as though I am picking up right where I left off.
This week has been a whirlwind--exhilarating and fun but at times extremely frustrating. From her experience living in Buenos Aires for a semester, Nora has assured me that I will develop a love/hate relationship with this city. For the most part I am definitely still in the honeymoon phase. However, now that summer is officially over and huge numbers of students and families have flooded back into the city from various vacation spots, Buenos Aires is absolutely overflowing with people. Although I am enjoying the end of summer weather (particularly the cool, breezy nights), it is still quite hot and humid during the day. The combination of the heat and the absurd amount of time I spend on public transportation has worn my patience pretty thin at times. I have been averaging about 1.5 hours on the colectivos and the Subte and at least 2 hours of walking a day just trying to find my classes, run errands, and get to the many appointments and meetings I have had in attempt to reorganize my life here.
Also, now that the bulk of the city's population is back in town, buses and subway trains literally feel like cattle cars. I sweat all day long and spend multiple hours every day crammed into small spaces with no ventilation next to other equally sweaty people clutching for dear life at whatever handle or bar I can get my hands on and desperately trying to protect my knee as best I can amidst the crazy masses.
On the bright side, I am really learning my way around this maze of a city. So, although I have to take deep breaths from time to time to suppress outbursts of frustration and my knee has gotten a little angry at me because of all the walking, I am proud that I am learning to navigate the city like a true Portena rather than a just a gringa tourist.
Tonight, I am going to the World Cup qualifying match between Argentina and Venezuela! Sammy and I made a spontaneous decision to try to get tickets on Thursday morning. After waiting in a long line and then having to sprint to get enough cash from the ATM (in all honesty, Sammy did the sprinting and I flirted with the security guards to allow us to save our spot in line), we somehow walked away with 3 tickets. We then promptly went to buy Argentina national team jerseys and surprised Sujata with the whole package. We've also been invited to a pre-game empanada and beer fiesta this afternoon so I have to run to the gym to do some PT before I run out of time.
I have many more stories and funny anecdotes from the week-- in particular my adventure to el Tigre river delta on Tuesday which happened to be a holiday (a pleasant but predictable surprise considering there seem to be holidays every week here!)--so I promise to write another entry very soon. For now, I will sign off and say, GO ARGENTINA!
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